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BIA Attorneys speak on pending lawsuit settlement

From Business First, click on link to view entire article

EXCLUSIVE REPORTS
From the January 7, 2005 print edition
Pickerington, home builders near accord on growth rules
Brian R. Ball
Business First
Pickerington and Central Ohio home builders are close to settling their two-year struggle over contentious housing development rules in the suburban city.

Pickerington City Council this month is expected to consider a legislative package that would resolve a series of zoning issues underlying the dispute, which prompted the Building Industry Association, seven housing builders and two development partnerships to sue the city in November 2003.
Council members tabled four proposed ordinances at a Jan. 4 meeting after city officials were unable to complete a final version of a settlement, as well as the last two of six related pieces of legislation. The package is expected to be introduced at council's next regular meeting Jan. 18.
The city wouldn't disclose details of the proposed accord, until the settlement and legislation are completed.
Elizabeth Stanton, a partner with Chester Willcox & Saxbe LLP representing the home builders, said the proposed legislative package represents a "global settlement" of the 2003 lawsuit and the related zoning issues that sparked the dispute.
"This settles the claims of the BIA and all of the developers who are parties to the lawsuit," she said. "As part of the settlement agreement, the city and BIA have agreed to work together in the development of a new comprehensive plan guiding the city's future growth and prosperity."
Restricted housing
Settlement talks began last spring and ratcheted upward in July, Stanton said. A framework for an agreement began taking enough shape by early December that Franklin County Common Pleas Judge John A. Connor agreed to postpone a Jan. 31 trial date.
Any settlement plan would need the judge's approval.
Stephen J. Smith, a lawyer with Schottenstein Zox & Dunn Co. LPA, which serves as Pickerington's interim city attorney, said a settlement "is very close, but we're not done."
"All of the parties are working diligently to finalize a settlement," he said.


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7 January 2005

Business First